Stock-releasing device



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. IVL'W. HANLEY.

STOGK RELEASING DEVIGE. v

Patented Dec. 1, 1885 ll. J E I "IIIIIIII when Snares MICHAEL WV. HANLEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STOCK-RELEASING DEVICE.

HPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331.396, dated December 1, 1885.

Application filed June 19, 1884. Serial No. 135,446. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MIcHAnL W. HANLEY, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stock Releasing Devices, which are fully set forthin the followingspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is theinside sectional view ofabarn or stable with my improved stock-liberator.

Fig. 2 is a plan section of the same, taken on line mm, Fig. 1, showing the operation of the liberator on two sets of stalls. Fig. 3 is 9. "ertical section of the same, taken on line y y, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of part of the sleeve and sliding or looking bar. Fig. 5 isa plan section of the same on lincz 2, Fig. 4'. Fig. 6 is a detail section of same as Fig. 4, showing the parts locked with the alarm attached thereto. Fig. 7 is a detail elevation of the alarm and its connections. Fig. 8 is a detail elevation of the sliding or looking bar.

My invention relates to certain devices for the purpose of liberating stock, horses, 850., which may be in a barn or stable at the time of a fire, and not only releases them from the stalls, but alarms them, causing them to run out of the stall. It also enables one man to liber ate all the stock, be it one or one thousand head, in a very few seconds.

In the drawings, A is the stall or manger; B, the sleeve or tube through which the sliding or looking bar Oworks. E is the shaft forworking the same, and N is the alarm.

By means of the mechanism which I have provided, the liberating of the stock may be done either from the inside or the outside of the building, or above or below the stableroom.

I will now proceed to explain my invention fully, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part hereof.

Running along the head of the stalls is the sleeve or tube B, arranged with openings a at proper intervalsz'. 6., one in the center of that length of sleeve which crosses each stall. In this sleeve or tube there isa sliding or looking bar, 0, which runs the full length of the sleeve or tube. This bar is furnished with hooks or fingers b, for catching and locking the rings to which the halters are fastened. The sliding bar fits tightly in the sleeve, and the fingers are formed by cutting an L-shaped slot in the bar, the long arm of the slot being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bar, and longer than the width of the opening a in the tube. At the end from which it is desired to operate the liberator thesliding bar 0 is connected with asliaft, E,with a screw-thread. There is a nut, D, fitted with a female screwthread, through which the shaftE works. This nut is grooved on its outer circumference, and by means of this groove it is set in a fixed plate, which restricts anylateral motion of the nut. This nut is attached to the shaft E, which has on its outer endahand-wheel, P, by which said nut is turned off and on the sliding bar, and as the nut D is held from longitudinal movement, itis obvious that the locking-bar G will be caused to slide in and out of thesleeve B. The bar 0 is made witha spline or feather which runs in a groove in the sleeve B, and

prevents the bar from turning. The bar and sleeve might both be made square or any suitble device used to prevent the bar from turning.

Attached to the nutshaft E is a gearwheel, J, which engages with the rack H,attached to the rod K. This rod moves forward and backward longitudinally in fixed bearings, and it is atright angles to the sliding bar. As the rod runs by several rows of stalls, several shafts running in sleeves and having gears attached to them may be worked by the nutshaft E and hand-wheel P, there being several racks attached to the rod K, each working a pinion attached to the nutshafts E.

If it would seem desirable to work the sliding bars either from above or below the floor on which the stalls are situated, the nut-shaft may be furnished with a bevel-gear, L, which engages with a similar bevel-gear, M, on the end of a shaft extending above or below, as desired.

The cattle in the stable are tied by their halter-straps to rings h. These rings are held by the fingers or hooks b,attached to the sliding bar 0. When it is desired to put in the rings, the sliding bar is run into the sleeve, so as to carry the fingers b far enough along in the opening a to allow the ring or link h to be hooked onto the finger. The sliding bar is then run forward again until the finger extends across the opening and the ring is held in place. There is a rod, c,whichis furnished v with a hook, d, near its upper end, and a ring,

c, at the lowerend. Theringed end of the rod is fastened to the finger, together with the ring to which the halter-straps are fastened. The other end of the rod fits into a socket hole in the wall or ceiling of the stall above it and at its head. To the hook, near the end of the rod, is hung a tin can, N, filled with stones.

When it is desired to liberate the stock, the sliding bar is run into the sleeve by the mechanism already described. As soon as the finger b has passed the opening a the ring 71, to which the halter is tied, and also the ring eat the end of the rod 0, are released and fall to the ground by reason of their own weight.

When the rod 0 falls the tin can Nfull of stones comes down at the horseshead and causes him to back out of the stall, thus letting him see that he is free, and in the general confusion astampede will naturally be made for the door, many head of stock or horses thus being saved that would otherwise be burned up in case of fire.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a stock-liberator, a sleeve or tube, B, running across the head or front of a row of stalls, and provided with small openings at, in combination with the sliding bar 0, provided with fingers b, for securing and holding the rings h, to which the halter-straps are fastened, the threaded shaft E, nut-shaft E, nut D, and

- hand-wheel P, substantially'in the manner and 2. The combination, in a stock-liberator, of the tube or sleeve B, extending across a row of stalls, and the sliding or locking bar 0, nut D, threaded shaft E, nut-shaft E, and handwheel P, for the purpose of sliding the locking-bar 0 within the tube B, with the rod 0, pro

vided with the hook (I, by which the alarm N is held in position, and the ring 6, by which the rod is held in place, together with the alarm N, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. In a stock-liberator, the combination of the sleeve B, sliding bar 0, nut D, threaded shaft E, nutsliaft E, and hand-wheel P, for operating the sliding bar O,with the pinion J, attached to, the nut-shaft E, and the rod K, provided with racks H,which engage with the pinion or gear J, and by means of which several sliding bars 0 may be simultaneously moved in sleeve B, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4:. Ina StOCk-llb6lttOl, the sleeve or tube B, arranged substantially as described, and provided with the openings at, in combination with the locking-bar 0, arranged to slide within said sleeve, and provided with fingers b, a threaded shaft, E, connected to the lockingbar, and a nut, D, and nut-shaft E, for operating the threaded shaft and lockingbar, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

I M IOHAEL W. H ANLEY.

VVitnesses:

H. D. HOLLISTER, LEONARD WVATsoN. 

